City Male Financial News

Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu said on Saturday that China, largest external creditor to the country, has agreed to consider restructuring the repayment of loans taken by his country and the governments will initiate negotiations soon. He told the media in Male after his return from a five-day high-profile state visit to China that he has directly appealed to Chinese President Xi Jinping to restructure the loans provided to the Maldives. He said that the loans were direct loans and that a technical team from China's Finance Ministry will travel to Maldives soon «to research and decide the way to offer a grace period in loan repayments over next five years, Maldives news portal Sun online reported.

₹55,000 to cancel a pre-booked honeymoon trip to the Maldives. "Pre-booked Maldives honeymoon trip. Costs 55k for Cancellation.

enquiries and a substantial reduction in prices for Maldives vacation packages despite multiple long weekends in January, reported TOI. Formerly priced in the range of Rs 55,000 to Rs 70,000, three-day packages from Hyderabad, encompassing airfare, lodging, meals, and sightseeing, are presently accessible for Rs 45,000 or even less. Luxurious five-star packages, previously priced at over Rs 2.5 lakh, have now fallen below the Rs 2 lakh mark, as per travel agents. Additionally, the cost reduction trend may continue.

Narendra Modi have been deemed unacceptable by the business community, and this call to boycott aims to express solidarity and register disapproval against such disrespectful behaviour. The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) stated it has «urged traders and exporters to refrain from conducting business dealings with the Maldives».

NEW DELHI : Adverse comments against India’s prime minister by three ministers of Maldives appear to have set off a chain reaction of holiday cancellations to the island nation. An executive committee member of Outbound Tour Operators Association of India said some travel companies have calculated that between 6 and 7 January, the industry might have seen up to 8,000 cancellations for hotel bookings in the Maldives by small groups from India.

Indians who have never wanted to go to the Maldives on vacation now don't want to go vacationing to the Maldives. Which makes boycotting the Maldives as a holiday destination a wee bit easier.

social media platforms over the weekend that they had cancelled plans to travel to the island nation. Some companies have, however, seen a surge in queries for Lakshadweep, they said. It comes in the wake of the row over derogatory remarks against India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted on X by three now-suspended junior Maldivian ministers after PM Modi’s posts promoting tourism in the Lakshadweep islands. “We haven’t seen any immediate cancellations for our flights, but since it’s a developing situation, we will be observing closely and will be monitoring the situation after a week,” Deepak Rajawat, chief commercial officer of Vistara, said in response to a query from ET. There are 58 weekly flights between India and the Maldives, operated by IndiGo, Vistara and Air India. IndiGo has seen no immediate cancellations or impact on forward sales, said people with knowledge of the matter. However, the airline did not respond to ET’s queries in this regard. Indigo has cancelled direct flights between Delhi and Male from January 17 as it has been forced to rejig its network due to the grounding of aircraft over issues with the Pratt & Whitney engines fitted in its 150 Airbus A320 aircraft.

Mohamed Muizzu, accompanied by First Lady Sajidha Mohamed and a delegation of senior government officials, embarked on an official visit to China on January 7. The invitation for the visit was extended by the President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping. The official visit is scheduled to continue until January 12, and a group of local journalists is also accompanying the President.

Maldives government the derogatory remarks made by a deputy minister in the island nation, sources informed on Sunday. The development comes amid growing outrage over Maldivian Deputy Minister of Youth Empowerment, Mariyam Shiuna's post on X, making a mocking and disrespectful reference to Prime Minister Modi over his recent visit to Lakshadweep, which lies close to Maldives. The post by Shiuna — which has now been deleted — featured images of PM Modi from his recent visit to the Union Territory. «With regards to the recent remarks by the Maldives Deputy Minister of Youth Empowerment, Mariyam Shiuna, the Indian High Commissioner has taken up the matter in Male,» a source said. Earlier in the day, former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed condemned the derogatory remarks made by the Shiuna and urged President Mohamed Muizzu to distance the government from the comments. Saying that India was «instrumental» in the security and prosperity of Maldives, the former premier called on Muizzu to give an assurance to New Delhi that the comments don't reflect government policy. «What appalling language by Maldives Government official @shiuna_m towards the leader of a key ally, that is instrumental for Maldives' security and prosperity.

Narendra Modi and Maldives newly elected President in their maiden meet held in Dubai discussed the issue of presence of India’s military platforms in Maldives that are engaged in humanitarian missions and the bilateral core group set up by the two leaders will discuss operational matters of platforms. “We have seen reports about status of Indian platforms in Maldives engaged in HADR activities. The continued usefulness of the Indian platforms as it was recognised in discussions needs to be looked at in a proper perspective.

Mohamed Muizzu of the Maldives formally requested on Saturday that India withdraw its troops from his strategically located archipelago, fulfilling an election pledge on his first day in office. Speaking with a visiting Indian minister, Muizzu asked New Delhi to recall personnel deployed to operate three gifted aircraft patrolling the maritime territory. «The President formally made the request when he met the Minister of Earth Sciences of India Kiren Rijiju, at the President's Office earlier today,» his office said in a brief statement. It did not set a timeline or specify the number of personnel to be withdrawn, but Muizzu announced at his inauguration the previous day that removing foreign troops was a priority. «The country will not have any foreign military personnel in the Maldives,» Muizzu said shortly after being sworn in at a televised, open-air ceremony. «When it comes to our security, I will draw a red line.

Maldives will work to return Indian military personnel from its shores «as soon as possible,» President-elect Mohamed Muizzu told Reuters on Sunday, insisting it was the top foreign policy priority for the tiny Indian Ocean island chain. Muizzu won the Maldives' presidential election last month, beating incumbent President Ibrahim Solih in a second-round runoff, and will take office on Nov. 17. Returning Indian military was a core policy of his election campaign. «I will be holding frank and detailed diplomatic consultations with India to work out details of sending back military personnel from the Maldives as soon as possible,» he told Reuters in an online interview from Male.

India’s “military presence” in Maldives is a myth created by incoming President Mohammed Muizzu and former President Abdullah Yameen, as just a handful of Indian military personnel in the Indian Ocean Region state are stationed for training Maldivian armed forces, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Two Indian Dhruv advanced light helicopters are operating in Male and the country has given a Dornier aircraft to the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) on condition that while it will operate under the command and control of the MNDF while its running cost will be borne by India, said the people. They said the Dornier aircraft has since been assisting in joint surveillance activities by India and the Maldives of the exclusive economic zone of the Indian Ocean Region nation. However, India meets 70% of the defence training requirements of the MNDF, having trained more than 1,500 of its personnel over the past decade, said one of the persons, who did not wish to be identified. In February 2021, India had extended a $50 million line of credit to the Maldives for defence projects. It also signed a deal to construct and maintain a naval facility.

Pro-Beijing leader Mohamed Muizzu has won the Maldives presidential election, beating incumbent president Ibrahim Solih in the second-round of the contest. This shift may raise alarms in New Delhi, apprehensive of China's growing influence in the traditionally Indian-aligned Maldives. Mint delves into the implications.

geopolitics into the centrestage of their electoral campaigns. While incumbent President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has strengthened the country's bonhomie with New Delhi in his five-year tenure so far, the opposition camp led by rival presidential candidate Mohamed Muizzu have sharpened their anti-India rhetoric, and hinted at restoring the strong pro-Beijing ties that existed between 2013 and 2018.

New Delhi: Pilot training institution, Redbird Aviation, is considering acquisitions of overseas assets, as a part of its expansion strategy to address increasing demand for pilots in India, and boost its fleet size. The company’s objective is to mitigate the impact of supply chain challenges on availability of aircraft, senior executives of the company said. “We acquired a flying school in Colombo, Sri Lanka, which has seven airplanes.

GoAir must pay a compensation of Rs 10,000 and reimburse additional flight charges amounting to Rs 13,956 to a flyer for the abrupt cancellation of a flight to the Maldives a week before the scheduled trip. As per a ToI report, the commission supported the complainant's argument, stating that the cancellation caused mental agony and inconvenience, despite booking the tickets well in advance for a hassle-free family holiday. The complainant, DV Manohar (69), a resident of Whisper Valley, had booked round-trip tickets for Rs 77,408 through GoAir for a holiday trip to the Maldives.

The president of Sri Lanka, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, fled the country early Wednesday morning, hours before he was due to step down amid a devastating economic crisis that has triggered severe shortages of food and fuel.